Do you ever feel frustrated that you can’t find anything that looks good on you? Like, you try items on, but nothing looks right. It might be cute on someone else, but it doesn’t look that way on YOU. Agghhh!
If you relate to this struggle, first, you are not alone! I’ve heard from SO many women that finding items that look good on you almost feels impossible.
But then, they start to say things like, “Because I need to lose 10 lbs,” or “Because my body is deformed,” or have just given up altogether because it’s so frustrating.
If that’s you, I want to offer some encouragement. I never want you to be frustrated while shopping, and I certainly never want you to feel bad about your body because of clothes!
The good news is it doesn’t have to be that hard.
Shopping doesn’t have to feel like a guessing game–and especially not a game that you lose more often than you win. And, there’s nothing wrong with your body. AND, you don’t have to change your body for this to be easier!
So what’s the key? You guessed it–learning to dress your Body Shape!
This is a foundation of style that makes finding clothes that work for you a thousand times easier! Once you get this down, it totally changes how you look and feel. And it totally changes the shopping game for you!
When you don’t know how to dress your Body Shape, shopping feels like a guessing game. A piece catches your eye, so you try it on hoping and praying it’ll work, only to be disappointed–again.
You might start to think something is wrong with your body. Like, if you were just THAT OTHER SIZE, or if your body weren’t SO WEIRD, or if you HAD SMALLER HIPS–or whatever, you could be stylish.
It’s not you. It’s the clothes!
I want you to kick down those negative thoughts and hear this truth: If clothes don’t look good on you, the problem is not YOU, it’s the CLOTHES. And that’s good news! Because instead of needing to change yourself, all you need to do is learn to find the right clothes for your Body Shape!
You see, style is like a puzzle. All clothing is created with unique shapes. All of our bodies are created with unique shapes. Sometimes those shapes don’t match up; rather they fight against each other.
It’s like trying to put a square peg into a round hole, or like trying to fit a sofa cover on a bed frame. If you did that, the bed would look awkward and lumpy. But, we never think something is wrong with the bed! We just say, “Oops, I used the wrong cover!”
Similarly, some clothing shapes do not work for our specific body shapes. It doesn’t mean something’s wrong with our bodies. It means we’re using the wrong clothing shapes–we’re just using the wrong puzzle pieces! You just need to figure out which puzzle pieces you should be using instead.
Here’s a side-by-side example of clothing shapes working against you vs. for you:
Shop the Outfits:
Dress on Left: Amazon (exact–wearing size 6)
Dress on Right: Old Navy (exact–wearing size M, similar)
Shoes: Amazon (exact–wearing size 9)
Earrings: c/o Nickel & Suede (similar–I wear size M)
Let’s start with the dress on the left. It’s a GREAT dress, just not on me. I have slightly broader shoulders, so flutter sleeves that stick out that much broaden them even more. That’s actually ideal for someone with narrower shoulders, but not for me. Also, there’s more bulk around the bust. Typically I’d appreciate that to balance my smaller chest, but right now my chest is larger from breastfeeding, and the bulk is fighting me there. That, combined with the super high neckline–also something that doesn’t work on my body shape–creates a bulky, stuffy top half on me.
It’s not the worst, but I don’t feel great in it. And, when you compare it to the dress on the right–what a difference! With the dress on the right, the sleeves are more streamline, and the neckline is less bulky and more open. Both dresses offer definition at the waist, but the extra bulk at the bust on the first dress makes the cinching less effective on me.
I feel way better in the second dress. But, it’s not because my body changed. It’s because the clothes changed! The first dress’ shape doesn’t work with my body shape, while the second one does. That’s IT.
Do you see how the different dress shapes make my body look different?
This is what I mean that the problem is not YOU, it’s the CLOTHES! And when you learn to dress your Body Shape, you know which shapes of clothes work for you and which ones don’t. So, you stop wasting your time (and your heartache) on clothes that won’t work for you.
For example, see that dress on the left? I 100% knew it wouldn’t work on me even before I tried it on. I knew just by looking at it online based on its shape (and I ordered it BECAUSE I wanted to have a “bad” example to show you. 😄 )
This is the power of knowing which shapes work for YOUR body shape!
When you haven’t mastered dressing your body shape, you feel:
- like you’re flying blind, guessing and hoping that something–anything!–will work
- frustrated and discouraged when shopping
- bad about your body
When you can confidently dress your body shape, you:
- can browse online, scan the clothes, and instantly know which ones won’t work and which ones probably WILL work for you
- know WHY clothes don’t work on you instead of feeling like it’s a guessing game
- spend more of your time trying clothes that DO work
- find clothes that you actually feel great in
- appreciate your body
This is what I want for you! Learning to dress your body shape makes style a thousand times easier. But for some reason, most women don’t prioritize learning to dress their Body Shape. They’d rather try learning a cool new trick, like three more ways to style a shirt.
But, if you feel discouraged while shopping or any other struggles I listed above, a new style tip or learning three more ways to wear a shirt will not solve the problem.
You’ve GOT TO learn to dress your Body Shape first. It’s FOUNDATIONAL to great style and will make it sooooo much easier. You’ll love getting dressed way more!
Not convinced yet? Listen to these women!
And in case you don’t believe me, I want to share stories from other women who learned to dress their Body Shapes and can testify that it actually DOES make shopping and style easier!
Learning to dress your Body Shape is one of the modules I teach in my online style course Simply Put Together. It’s been soooo awesome to see how differently women feel after they’ve learned to dress their Body Shapes.
One of those members is Marissa, who had been following PMT for a while, and while she says PMT helped up her style game a ton, she knew there was still a disconnect between what she was learning through the blog and what looked good on her body. Knowing that Simply Put Together would tailor style to her body and style, she jumped in during the first round in April. She said:
“Through Simply Put Together (SPT), my biggest AHA moment was embracing my pear shape instead of trying to force myself into an hourglass body. I honestly rolled my eyes listening to the pear module on SPT because I assumed those tips would NEVER work for me and I’d look ridiculous. However, I embraced the spirit of the course and bought a few clothing items online that fell within SPT’s guidance for pear shapes and was BLOWN AWAY by how much I thought an item I would hate made me love how my body looked. Embracing curves you never wanted to embrace before can be a long and difficult process of self love, but knowing exactly what features are flattering and not even bothering to pick up a clothing item that you already know wont fit your body (and being ok with it) is extremely empowering.
“Every time I don’t have to return an item because “it looked so good on the model, why doesn’t it look like that on me” is a huge #WIN in my book. I’m not wasting my time buying things that won’t work for me and I’m not getting discouraged by trying to force myself into items that just aren’t cut for my body shape.
The amount I’ve saved in buying clothes that don’t fit my body or my lifestyle makes SPT worth every penny. It’s empowering going shopping and having a solid understanding of what kinds of outfits and pieces I need. It’s even more empowering knowing that you can have the ability to feel good about dressing yourself every day.“
Ahhhhh I’m so happy for her! Isn’t that inspiring? I laugh whenever I read that she rolled her eyes! 🤣 But I also love it and think that rawness and skepticism is something we can all relate to. Especially if we’ve been “losing” at the shopping game for a long time.
But, learning to dress your Body Shape really does make a world of a difference! And in case you need more inspiration to prioritize learning this skill, here’s how it’s changed the same for more women in Simply Put Together:
Action Steps:
- Understand your Body Shape with measurements – Don’t guess or assume! Measuring can be eye opening. Download my 5 Body Shapes and Beyond workbook to guide you through it. It’s the same workbook we use in Simply Put Together.
- Identify which clothing shapes work for you
- Know WHY those shapes work for you
- Learn how to put together outfits that flatter your Body Shape – It’s not enough to identify individual pieces. Sometimes they don’t work together well. You ALSO have to learn how to work those pieces into full OUTFITS that flatter you.
